Niagara JUEL 1-2 in exhibition action
The Niagara JUEL girls basketball team went 1-2 in recent exhibition action, falling 71-48 to the GTA Blues and 68-64 to the Ottawa Capitals and defeating the Durham City Chameleons 62-54.
“We didn’t get the results we wanted but we had a good weekend. We are learning to compete and play the right way so that will take time,” Niagara head coach Si Khounviseth said. “As a team and coaches, we have to be patient with our group as we get on with the season. We had lots of positive things happen this weekend. Once we learn to put together 40 minutes of effort in we will be fine.”
The games were a mixed bag.
“Game 1 was a tale of two halves. We just did not deal with ball pressure in the second half,” he said. “In Game 2, we struggled to find consistency and in Game 3 we gave up our chance to win with turnovers late in the game. Missed free throws were costly. We lost by four and were 18-33 from the free-throw line. We will work on it and get better.”
Niagara lead 33-32 at the half against GTA but the Blues outscored Niagara 39-15 in the second half.
Top performers for Niagara were: Emma Vendittelli (A.N. Myer) with eight points and 12 rebounds; Ava Froese (Smithville Christian) with eight points and six rebounds; Annika Rigby (Eden) with eight points; Alena Tepsic (Saltfleet) with six points; and, Shorleigh Burrows (Eden) and Alyah Pereira (Westdale) with five points.
Against the Ottawa Capitals, the Capitals built quarter leads of 19-15, 38-30 and 54-48 to record the win.
Leading the way for Niagara were: Pereira with 14 points; Vendittelli with nine points and five rebounds; Tepsic with eight points; Lauren Smith (St. Jean de Brébeuf) with seven points; Froese with six points; Grace MacDonald (St. John Henry Newman) with five points and five rebounds; and, Keira Teske (Governor Simcoe) with five points.
In the win over the Durham City, the game was tied 11-11 after one quarter before Niagara led 25-22 at the half and the Chameleons led 26-25 after three quarters.
Playing well for Niagara were: MacDonald with 14 points and eight boards; Tepsic with 12 points and seven rebounds; Pereira with 10 points; Froese with four points and 10 rebounds; Brianna Davis (Blessed Trinity) with four points and nine rebounds; and Burrows and Vendittelli with four points.
